Two years following the appearance of Covid-19, people continue to report new signs of the disease. Parosmia is particularly attracting the attention of scientists at the moment.
A disturbance of the sense of smell
With the arrival of new variants of the coronavirus, the list of symptoms of Covid-19 continues to lengthen. The parosmie is the latest. It’s a smell disorder that makes hot food smell like “trash can” where the “feces”. According to scientists, it usually occurs following anosmia, the famous loss of smell.
“It smelled like putrid death.”
After being sick with COVID, these people are reporting an unusual new symptom. And it stinks … pic.twitter.com/6X7EvbtYK8
– Brut America (@brutamerica) January 20, 2022
The explanations of a scientist
“When the virus attacks the cells of smell, it destroys neurons”, explained Federica Genovese, expert of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia (United States). In some cases, this causes anosmia. She indicated to Brut America that “other neurons replace them but reconnect badly”. Some patients may smell unpleasant odors.
Sooner or later everything will be fine
“Parosmia is thought to arise from fewer olfactory receptors functioning, leading to being able to pick up only some of the components of a mixture of odors”, according to a professor of olfactology at the University of East Anglia. This disorder can last from 6 months to 1 year, or even more, but Federica Genovese reassured that normally, everything ends up in order. Sooner or later, the neurons will reconnect properly.